Pat GalleDedication to hard work helped Spanish Fort coach Chris Schmidt and UMS-Wright coach Pat Galle lead their teams to state cross country championships this season.

In Schmidt's case, his Toros boys endured two-a-day practices, while Galle stressed that his girls team use pack running as a way to win meets.

Both strategies worked, leading to Schmidt and Galle being named the 2009 Press-Register's Boys and Girls Cross Country Coaches of the Year.

While Schmidt's squad was not among the top-five ranked overall in the state before the state championships, Galle's squad was ranked second behind perennial 6A powerhouse Mountain Brook.

"Our goal the whole year was to win state," Schmidt said. "Our guys dotted every 'i' and crossed every 't.' All the two-a-days we had made the guys learn how to sacrifice in order to perform well. During our 5:30 a.m. practices, 15 guys showed up, and that showed how dedicated they were."

Spanish Fort became the first public school from Mobile or Baldwin County to win a state cross country title since Murphy won a girls title in 1999.

"At the time, people were overlooking us, but our guys rose up to every challenge," he said. "We were the third team from Alabama to finish in the elite division in the Jesse Owens meet (behind Mountain Brook and Hoover), and that was a big accomplishment for us, and it was like Christmas for me."

UMS-Wright also enjoyed a successful season for Galle and his runners.

"We wound up winning 11 out of 12 meets this year," Galle said. "Our girls ran really well, and despite the fact that they are still young, most of them are in their third year with our program. The pack mentality we used helped us in a lot of meets."

Galle added that last year's outdoor track season, when the Bulldogs won the state 4A title, was a preview of things to come in 2009.

"At the start of the season, I thought we were a pretty strong team," he said. "When I printed out the results of how we did last outdoor track season, it helped our confidence. I think that made a big difference."

Schmidt and Galle identified standouts who played key roles in the championship seasons. "Wren Smith was our leader this year," Schmidt said. "If we had captains this year, he would have been it. If some of the guys didn't show up at 5:20 to do the early morning workouts, he would call to find out where they were. Of course, you can't forget about guys like Brett Hanke and Trevor Stevens, because they were the strongest runners on our team."

Added Galle, "We had a couple of seniors (Frances Sarrett and Ann Stewart Galloway) help out the younger runners. In addition to that, we had Claire Kennedy and the Lazarchick twins (Kristen and Kathryn) coming off outstanding outdoor track seasons."

UMS-Wright also had the unusual distinction of placing six runners -- Kennedy, the Lazarchick twins, Claire Speegle, Charlotte Galloway and seventh-grader Ellie Carter -- in the top 15 at the state meet. All of them will return next season.